


You'll Fit In Just Fine

by taylor_renae



Series: 50 Pavel/Joanna AU's [2]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-23
Updated: 2013-12-23
Packaged: 2018-01-05 18:53:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1097450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taylor_renae/pseuds/taylor_renae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Story Two of 50 Pavel/Joanna AU's - A collection of one-shots.<br/>In which it's Joanna's first day at her new middle school in Iowa, and she seems to be making a bad impression. Middle School Band/Orchestra AU. McKirk if you squint. Ages are weird in this one, but bear with me.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You'll Fit In Just Fine

_"Vhat do you vant, wiolins?"_

Joanna's black violin case sat in her lap, her hands clasped atop of the textured plastic, her knuckles slowly turning an ugly shade of white. She didn't think she had ever been in a car ride so long before.

Actually, she supposed that wasn't quite true. She knew logically that it just felt much longer because she was so nervous, despite her father's reassurances that she had "nothing to worry about". No, the car ride from her old home in Georgia to her new home in Iowa, that was the longest car ride she'd ever been in.

When they finally pulled into the school parking lot, Joanna's stomach started doing little flips that nearly convinced her she was sick. Her father walked to her side as she closed her door, her backpack in his hand, and placed his free hand gently at the small of her back, leading her to the door, as Joanna gripped the handle of her violin case in her sweaty palm.

He opened the front door of the school and held it open as she walked through, her knees slightly wobbly. They walked into the office at the left, up to the front desk, where the lady there raised an eyebrow at them both, and Joanna's cheeks burned as she caught a glance at the clock mounted on the wall high above her head, near the ceiling. 10:35!! She was over two hours late on her first day!! She could practically feel the bad impression she had just made marking her like a brand.

Once they had reached the front desk, Joanna's father leaned over slightly as he spoke, "Hi there, ma'am, I'm Leonard McCoy, this is my daughter, Joanna. It's her first day, and I believe we have an appointment with Principle Marco?" he spoke with a rather heavy southern accent, much heavier than Joanna's.

The front desk lady pursed her lips and replied, "Yes, hold on let me let him know you're here," she pressed what Joanna assumed was an intercomm button obscured by the high rise of her desk, "Principle Marcus, there's a Leonard and Joanna McCoy here to see you,"

Joanna tried to hide her dislike of the front desk lady's rudeness towards her father as a rough voice answered back over the hidden speaker of the intercomm, "Send them in, thank you."

The front desk lady looked up at them, "He's just down the hall,"

"Thanks," Joanna's father replied as he began steering Joanna down the hall past the desk. Once they were out of earshot, he said quietly, "She didn't even tell us which room it was," Joanna could tell it would take them both a while to get used to Iowa's misuse of manners.

It was rather hard to fidn which door was Marcus's, there were at least six on each side of the hall. Thank goodness several of them had labels taped onto the doors that read, "Printer" and "Copier", or Joanna and her father would have entered them all. The doors that weren't labeled, such as the supply closet, they barged in on without a second thought, none, of which had a single person in them. It wasn't until they reached the second door to the end on the right, the employee's lounge, that they actually found human beings, and, in a fit of desperation, Joanna's father entered to ask for directions.

An older man with graying blond hair sat at the table in the center of the room, his cane leaning up against it. A pretty blonde lady in a light blue, knee-length dress stood at the counter closest to the door, stirring a dark colored liquid-what Joanna assumed was coffee-in a stryofoam cup. As they approached her, she raised her eyebrows in anticipation, as she probably expected she was about to be asked a question.

"Pardon me, ma'am," Joanna's father began, and Joanna watched the blonde lady give a small smile that appeared to be half-pleased, half-surprised by his manners, "Do you know where we can find Principle Marcus?"

"Yes," she replied, smiling pleasantly at them, "he's just across the hall, the last door on the left," she had an English accent which Joanna already liked listening to, the lady extended her hand to her father, "I'm Carol Marcus, by the way, I'm a science teacher, and you are...?"

"Leonard McCoy," he set Joanna's backpack down onto the floor at his feet and shook her hand firmly, smiling, "this is my daughter, Joanna. Marcus, did you say? Would that make you Principle Marcus's-"

"Daughter, yes," Carol replied. She turned to Joanna and held out her hand again, "Well, Joanna, how old are you?"

"13, ma'am," Joanna replied, shaking her hand firmly, just as her father did.

"You can call me Mrs. Carol, dear," Mrs. Marcus said, "Have you gotten your class schedule yet?"

"No ma'-I mean, Mrs. Carol," Joanna tried to stop her cheeks from burning, probably unsucessfully.

"Well, I've probably got you for Computer Sciences, it's a required course, and there's only two Computer Science teachers," Mrs. Carol stated.  
Joanna smiled, "Great," she had a feeling she would like her classes with Mrs. Carol.

Her father smiled at Mrs. Carol again and began to steer Joanna out, "Well, we've better get going, it was a pleasure to meet you, Carol,"

"Watch out for Mr. Marcus, though," the older man seated at the table warned, "he's not nearly as nice as his daughter,"

Mrs. Carol pursed her lips in a way that confirmed the man's statement. He stood and walked over to them, well, limped, mostly, leaning heavily on his cane, "I know you've got to go," he said as he reached them, "but I'm Christopher Pike, the assistant principle," he extended his hand towards them both, shaking them good-naturedly, "and I know the stereotype for assistant principles, but I can assure you that you would rather come to me when you get into trouble than Principle Marcus," his statement was aimed toward Joanna, which made her relax a bit, while, at the same time, made her all the more nervous.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Pike," Joanna said, smiling. If most of the teachers here are more like Mrs. Carol and Mr. Pike, she was beginning to think she would like it here.

"Yes, very nice," her father then said, and she smirked a little, for they both knew he was usually the one who said that first. He sent a little smile towards her and squeezed her shoulder approvingly as he reached down and picked her backpack back up off the floor, "but me and Jo've gotta go meet Mr. Marcus. Cross your fingers for us if he's really as bad as you say,"

Mrs. Carol smiled approvingly as Mr. Pike laughed, and they bid each other farewell as Joanna and her father exited the room, "What nice people. I'm starting to think I would rather work here than at the hospital, Jo," her father said after the door to the employee lounge closed, "you know, I could be like a health teacher or something," he chuckled as Jo groaned at the thought, although she still smiled.

They reached Mr. Marcus's door and knocked twice, "Come in," came the rough voice from the intercomm through the door.  
Joanna's father opened the door and ushered her inside, closing it behind him. He set down her backpack again and reached his hand over the desk in the center of the room for a handshake. Mr. Marcus returned it as Joanna's father introduced them both.

"I'm Principle Marcus, but you can call me Mr. Marcus," Mr. Marcus replied, sounding as if he had introduced himself 10 times that morning, he resumed his introduction as such, "I'm sure your daughter will enjoy her stay here, Mr. McCoy, and, as long as she behaves and keeps up with her school work, I'm sure her teachers and classmates will enjoy it, too,"

Joanna nearly winced at the Principle's tone. She snuck a sidelong glance at her father and really winced. He was chewing on the inside of his cheek, clearly trying not to retort back. She knew he hated that introduction even more than she did. Mr. Marcus was basically insinuating that Joanna was a good-for-nothing troublemaker at first glance. Joanna knew that her father hated prejudice, especially when it was aimed towards his only daughter.

"Well, Mr. Marcus, we'll be sure to keep that in mind," he grunted.

Mr. Marcus regarded him distastefully, then lifted up a piece of paper on his desk. He glanced it over, then handed it to Joanna's father, "This is Joanna's class schedule," he stated and glanced at the clock on the wall behind him, "We've just begun second hour. It's a block day, so you'll be in that class for an hour and a half. It should all explain it in here. Feel free to call the front desk if you ever have any questions, the numbers should be on the first page," he handed Joanna's father a thin manilla folder full of papers, "have a nice day," he dismissed.

Joanna's eyebrows nearly shot off her forhead with the bluntness of the dismissal. Joanna and her father stood up, her father picking up her backpack again and tucking the folder under his arm and handing Joanna her schedule, "Thanks," he nearly spat as they exited the room.

"Mr. Pike was right, Mrs. Carol is way nicer than her dad," Joanna's father remarked when they were a few paces away from the door, she agreed, smirking at the empasis he placed on 'way', "what does your schedule say is your second hour?"

Joanna looked at the list, "Band & Orchestra in the Auditorium," she read as she smiled. That had been her favorite class since she first began playing the violin. She was more than happy to jump right in it her first day.

"Awesome," her dad responded, shaking her shoulder with his free hand. She giggled and leaned into him.

After asking the frowning front desk lady for directions to the auditorium, they began slowly navigating their way towards the direction the front desk lady had vaguely waved towards. Joanna felt her stomach flip again, not only from nervousy, this time, but also from excitement.

"I hope I'll be able to play today," Joanna chimed.

"That's my girl, always getting ahead of herself," her father chuckled, she reponded with a laugh.

-~-

When they finally reached the auditorium, Joanna had to set her violin case and her schedule on the floor in front of her and wipe her sweaty palms on her jeans. She picked them back up and straightened herself. Her father was watching her, his hand resting on the auditorium door handles, he raised his eyebrows expectingly at her, and she nodded an answer to his silent question:

_"Are you ready?"_

_"Yes."_

He smiled encouragingly at her and pulled open the door, holding it open for her. She smiled both nervously and excitedly back at him as she stepped through, into the dimly lit auditorium. She had always loved how auditoriums were lit. Her father closed the door behind them and, just as he had after they left their car, he placed his free hand at the small of her back, and lead her around the wall that separated the auditorium's atrium from the seats and stage.

She heard a voice speaking towards the front of the auditorium, words she couldn't hear properly enough to understand, but other than that, silence as they rounded the corner.

There were several students seated at chairs on the stage, and a tall, brown-haired man seated atop a wooden desk directly in front of them. He stopped talking as soon as he noticed he was no longer holding the focus of the group. He turned towards them, and smiled pleasantly. He hopped off the desk he had been perched on, and casually strode towards them. Joanna took the time to observe him.

He had a lovely white smile, his eyes crinkled around the edges as he smiled wide at them. He extended his hand towards her father. He wore a crisp, light blue shirt buttoned up to the collar, a color that brought out the dazzling blue in his eyes. They reminded her of the color her favorite blue Jolly Ranchers. Now that he stood directly under the auditorium light, his hair was not, in fact, brown, but a rather dark blond.

Although his face was clean-shaven, she imagined what he would look like with stubble, then with a light beard, and she decided that he was one of the rare men that would look good with or without a beard, just like her father.

"Hi there, I'm Jim Kirk," he introduced himself, shaking her father's hand a little longer than necessary, she observed, and she glanced up at her father, who was smiling wider than she had ever seen him smile at anyone besides her. She tried to hide her smirk, as they released each other and he turned to her, "but you can can me Mr. Kirk,"

She shook his hand, returning his smile as her father spoke, "I'm Leonard McCoy," after Mr. Kirk released her hand, and Joanna was pleased he had the good nature not to wipe the sweat he undoubtedly recieved from her hand, he turned his smile back to her father, "and this is my daughter, Joanna,"

"Nice to meet you, Joanna," he chimed at her, and Joanna percieved that Mr. Kirk seemed highly infatuated in her father, and, based on how her father kept his eyes and wider-than-usual smile, the feeling was mutual.

"Ah, Joanna has this class now," her father explained, clearly flustered, and Joanna flushed with embarrassment.

"I see," Mr. Kirk replied.

"I apologize for our bein' so late, we just moved here from Georgia, and it's taken us a while to settle in," her father added. Joanna felt a wave of confusion wash over her. Her father never explained this to anyone outside of Georgia before, and, granted, they had only been in Iowa for three days, but this was still a bit weird.

"Why'd you move?" Mr. Kirk hastily added, "If you don't mind me asking,"

"Not at all," her father replied, "Uh, I lost my ex-wife half a year ago,"

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," Mr. Kirk responded, and Joanna could tell the comment was aimed at both of them.

"Thank you, Mr. Kirk-"

"Jim, please," Mr. Kirk insisted to Joanna's father.

"Thank you, Jim," her father corrected himself, "but I've had a long time to cope, plus her family takin' the whole damn planet after her departure made it a bit easier, you know? Moved out here afterwards, got a crappy job at the hospital as a doctor, but really, all I got left is my bones. And my little girl," he squeezed Joanna's shoulder with his free hand again, smiling lovlingly down at her.

Mr. Kirk laughed and clapped his hand down on Joanna's father's shoulder, "Well, Bones, I can take it from here, but it was a pleasure to meet you. If you ever need any help settling in, or just need someone to talk to, I'll be happy to help. I'll send my card home with Joanna,"

"Thanks so much, Jim," he eyed Mr. Kirk at the new nickname and turned to Joanna, "alright, I've gotta split, darlin'," he gathered her up in his arms and she kissed his cheek, "love you, I'll see you at home, have a good day,"

"Bye Daddy, love you," she responded as he handed Mr. Kirk her backpack and the manilla folder. Then he smiled a goodbye, turned, and left the auditorium.  
Mr. Kirk turned towards his mahogany desk and reached into a drawer, pulling out a paper and placing it in the inside flap of the manilla folder, then zipping the folder into her backpack, "There's my contact info," he stated, as he headed towards the front of the stage, where a line of backpacks sat against the rise of the stage. He placed hers down at the end of the line then looked up towards his small group of students, "Mr. Sulu, could you grab Ms. McCoy a chair please? Just set it next to Mr. Chekov,"

An Asian-American boy nodded toward him and jogged off stage where Joanna could see a stack of chairs obscured by the velvet curtain. As Sulu unstacked a chair and pulled it next to a boy with curly hair, who he had been sitting next to before, Mr. Kirk turned towards the rest of the group, "Alright, gang, this is Joanna McCoy," he stated as Joanna could feel her cheeks burn slightly, "Joanna, this is the Band & Orchestra Crew. We usually have two separate classes for band and orchestra, but we have such a small croud this year that the school board decided to combine them," he started introductions from left to right, "Over there is Mr. Olson, Janice Rand, Nyota Uhura," he turned to Joanna in a hushed voice, "she only goes by Uhura, however, Mr. Spock, Hikaru Sulu, and Pavel Chekov,"

She smiled at each of them, as they all either smiled or nodded at her in return, "We know you'll enjoy it here Joanna, and if there's anything you need, don't ever be afraid to ask, either me or any one of your fellow band and/or orchestra players," Mr. Kirk smiled.

Pavel Chekov stepped forward and extended his hand down towards her as Mr. Kirk took her other hand. She set her violin case down on the stage and grabbed the boy's hand, as Mr. Kirk and Pavel Chekov lifted her onto the stage. He picked her violin case up for her and led her to the seat Sulu had set out for her next to his own. He smiled at her as he sat down, his eyes a beautiful sparkling green, and Joanna found herself mesmerized by them.

"Well, Joanna, let's see what you're made of," Mr. Kirk proposed, "do you mind playing something for us?"

Joanna could feel herself paling, but took a deep breath and reached for her case, taking it out and preparing it with shaky hands. Getting into the correct stance, she took another deep breath, and played the song she'd been working on perfecting for what seemed like forever*.

-~-

When she finished the song, through the many mistakes she had made, she looked up at Mr. Kirk expectantly. He was beaming at her. She took a glance around at the faces of her peers, and noticed that they were beaming at her, too. She flushed with happiness and allowed an unbelieving laugh slip through her lips.

“Well, Joanna McCoy,” Mr. Kirk smirked, “I do believe you will fit in here just fine,”

He announced that was all for the day, and they will pick up again next class. Her new class mates surrounded her and introduced themselves, and asked about her schedule. She reported to them the list she had memorized, and her classmates happily told her about them, saying things like, “Oh, Computer Sciences with Mrs. Carol is the best,” and “Mr. Scott’s Introductions to Engineering class is great,”.

She made fast friends with her peers, synchronizing schedules, planning to meet up with them during passing periods and lunches, and even planning future hangouts. GOing to the mall with Uhura, practicing for gym class with Sulu, and, as Joanna was most excited about, practicing with the only other violinist, Pavel.

As the bell rang, her fellow classmates left the class, bidding farewell to Mr. Kirk, which he exchanged fondly, Pavel walked Joanna to her next classroom carrying her things for her and smiling that beautiful smile at her all the while, even slipping his hand into hers, and she decided she loved the way he said her name with his heavy Russian accent. _Yes,_ she though to herself as they walked, _I think I will fit in here just fine._

**Author's Note:**

> Welp, that’s all for now, folks! Thanks for reading! *- The song is Shadows by Lindsey Stirling (Minus the base in the background, of course) link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGCsyshUU-A


End file.
